My ideal world cruising liveaboard

[stuartcnz]

Crown Jewel 36

Designed by Tom MacNaughton in Maine, for a family of seven to live and cruise on.

Length 35'6"
Breadth 10'10"
Draft 5'6"
Gross weight around 9.5 metric ton

Raised deck gives standing headroom most of the length of the boat. Single Hasler/McLeod style junk sail of 800sq feet, on a free standing mast (no rigging), and windvane self steering.

The particular boat (Linnea) in the photo above was built by Matti Palm and family, in Sweden. This photo was taken in July this year, cruising the south of Sweden.

[rlaggren]

Looks like the Badger.

Anybody heard of Annie Hill lately?


Rufus

[stuartcnz]

It's nothing like badger. It has a wineglass hull for starters, though the displacement is similar.

Last I heard, Annie was still living in Nelson, at the other end of the South Island from me. I met her and Trevor aboard Iron Bark down here, a couple of years ago. From here, they went back up to Nelson, where they did a refit, before Trevor headed off to Chile, solo. Annie bought a 26 footer for herself to live on in Nelson. Last I heard she was in the process of converting it to junk rig. On occasion she fly out to spend time with Trevor aboard Iron Bark. When we met, she told me that she was about done with continuous voyaging, and that she didn't feel entirely safe on Iron Bark, because the gaff rig was to heavy for her to handle alone, should anything happen to Trevor. She was still full of praise for Badger, considering it to be her ultimate boat. She also convinced me beyond a doubt about the benefits of the Hasler/McLeod junk rig, particularly with the cambered panels, as developed by Arne Knervland in Norway.

[rlaggren]

> Badger

I keyed on the size and the junk rig - Badger was previously the only boat I have any knowledge of that uses one.

> Annie...

Glad to hear she's well and "doing". I think you're lucky to meet her. From what little I have gleaned she is one of those rare people who set off on their own direction and stay the course - without much in the way of noise and publicity. I can certainly understand how she might have gone beyond world cruising, but that's only from the standpoint of my own aches and pains, never having been there.

I have however been trying in a casual fashion for about 10 years to find good detailed info on junk rigs with little success. There are a couple classic books but so far I haven't come across them (or anything, really), although in truth I've just trolled the used book stores where ever I go - haven't tried to pull them in from any of the "find" services. One problem with the junk rig is the (very) few users. Kinda like Linux vs. Microsoft - if you're just a joe schmoe you're usually better off using something mainstream that has support everywhere and anywhere, parts, service, knowledge - ie. Microsoft (or the fore/aft rig). Even the gaff is a seriously alternate life style...

Rufus

[stuartcnz]

The definitive book on the Junkrig is "Practical Junk Rig" by HG Hasler and JK McLeod ISBN 0 7136 6975 6

About the only thing missing from the book is detail on camber. As such it gives all the details for a flat paneled junk sail, including how to work out all of the centers (balance, effort, etc), which is precisely what Pete and Annie Hill used on Badger. The down side to the flat cut sails is that although they point relatively high, they don't have power to windward.

Arne Knervland in Norway has developed a way of cutting the individual panels with camber, which gives the rig power to windward, while retaining all of the simplicity of the original. When I spoke with Annie, she said that she would use Arne's modifications on a new rig. He provides full details of how to calculate and cut the cambered panels in a series of pdf files, which are free to download from the Yahoo Junkrig group. They are to be used in conjunction with the above mentioned book.

[rlaggren]

> Hasler...

Yes, that's the one. Scarce as hen's teeth. I thought there was another good reference also, but maybe I'm mixed up (!).

Thanks for the note about Arne Knervland. I'll look at those.

Rufus

[stuartcnz]

Practical Junk Rig is available through Amazon, though it's not cheap. Around $55 for soft cover. I bought my copy from a local book shop and before that found it in a local library.

[Stealth Camper]

There was an old Chinese looking junk boat in Tulsa for a long time when I was a kid. Grew up watching the thing sit in the guys front yard rotting over the years. From early 60's through about 1995 he kept it up fairly well. Probably needed complete overhaul, but was all there. I think he got too old, or maybe died - over the last 15 years it gradually rotted away until nothing was left except a large block of lead (keel I guess, but I thought they just used daggerboards). Sad to see it go away like that - it was a beautiful design that I would love to have. Tried to talk to him once in early 70's but he wasn't very friendly about the boat -probably thought I was just a clueless punk kid. Yeah, I probably was....

[The Flying Tortoise]

Voyaging On A Small Income was a bible to me for many years and a constant reference when I was building my junk rigged, 10m liveaboard yacht Shoestring in 1995 and the story of the two hundred pound millionaire totally inspirational and fitting well with my Henry David Thoreau choices on lifestyle.
And then some years later I was at a party at Gary Underwood's, the principal designer of Shoestring, and I started talking to this attractive English woman who was asking me questions about my six years aboard that yacht. I thought she seemed to know quite a lot about the subject and an hour later the penny dropped.
I then almost dropped to my knees out of respect before this remarkable woman who changed my life and I'm sure, many thousands of others.
I'm looking at that book right now as I write this.
At this particular party held high in the hills at Crow's Nest nearly everyone there had sailed to New Zealand some years ago from the other side of the world. There were more Cape Horner's and single handed circumnavigators than you would find at any gathering outside a National Geographic Adventurers meeting.
It was a very humbling experience.
I had left New Zealand in '94 to sail around the world but didn't get very far before being rolled 360 degrees and dismasted. But that's another story and I'll tell you about Shoestring another time.
In the meantime, I'll raise a glass to Annie Hill...